Look at your landscape as the sun sets. Where does the light fall? If there is a place on your property that is illuminated by the setting sun, you need a Cocktail Hour Garden. This is the area where plants will be backlit and you can sit with […]

One aspect of garden design is creating ways for the colors of plants to have conversations. When we put plants together we aim for contrasting colors and textures, but we also look for repetition…we find ways for a plant’s flowers or foliage to be repeated elsewhere. When the […]

Every once in awhile I open a folder on my desktop that is labeled “core beliefs/values.” I don’t know about you, but I find that it’s easy to lose track of such convictions when dealing with everyday life. Sometimes I think that it would be good to open […]

The title of this post seems like a contradiction, but hear me out. We have a narrow lot. Although the total isn’t small by Cape Cod standards, the overall property is long and thin. This shape presents several challenges when it comes to garden design.

Some plants are sturdy and grow upright, and some do not. Not much news there, right? So why do we humans think that they should all be vertical, not to mention tidy? When a plant sprawls, what response do people have? They bring out the […]

Whoever coined the saying that “you can’t be too rich or too thin” isn’t a gardener. Gardens are certainly better if they are full and abounding…almost impossible if the beds are too skinny. In the landscape, more is more.

Unless you’re using two plants to frame something else, don’t do it. Two shrubs on either side of the front entry? Fine. Placing two perennials on either side a birdbath? Acceptable, if not very imaginative. Two plants stuck in the same bed, side […]

The second thing I dislike about some landscapes is a scattering of lots of small things. Small plants, small ornaments, and small house components. All of this tiny stuff blends together to form a busy background of little noise. The problem with such landscapes […]